Malaysia, February 6-15, 2004

Stage 1 - February 6: Bayan Baru, Pulau Pinang - Taiping, 112 km

Sprintless finale to first day

What promised to be the first sprint royale of the Le Tour de Langkawi soon
turned to mayhem after police officials in the finish town of Taiping mistakenly
allowed vehicles onto the course with less than eight kilometres remaining.

With the finishing circuit looking more like a normal day in a big city than
a closed-off parcours in a small town, riders abandoned all thoughts of a sprint
finish and in doing so, unofficially neutralised the day's stage. "They were
supposed to go for two [laps], but someone on the circuit opened up the gates.
They didn't read their handbook and they screwed the race up for everybody,"
said the disappointed race director Alan Rushton immediately following the race.

"The riders offered to do another lap very sportingly, but we couldn't do that
because the road was already open, so all we could do was neutralise the stage
and give the jerseys to the guys in front who deserved them for their efforts
today."

To keep some semblance of normality, jerseys were awarded based on placings
in the three intermediate sprints, which saw a rider from Philippines' first
trade team, Merculio Ramos (Pagcor-Casino Filipino), being awarded the Tour's
first yellow jersey (Ramos won two out of the three sprint primes). Ramos' breakaway
companion, Yongbiao Zhu (China), wears the blue jersey for best sprinter, with
the best Asian rider tunic going to another early escapist and Ramos' team-mate,
Lloyd Lucien Reynante.

"The [peloton's] reaction is nobody crashed and that's the most important thing,"
said Chocolade Jacques-Wincor sprinter Jan Koerts pragmatically. "It could have
been worse. My first thought was they must have made a mistake here; first we
went the wrong way because I thought we should turn left, but there were cars
there and straight ahead was clear so I went straight. It's a shame it had to
go like this but there were cars all over the road, so the most important thing
was to help each other out and stand together as a bunch and be safe."

Ceramiche Panaria-Margres's Graeme Brown agreed: "The decision was made
three or four kilometres out when it was impossible, absolutely impossible to
race; there would have been crashes and it was extremely dangerous," he
said. "It's just one of those things. It was a shame what happened, but
even the organisers didn't know what happened. Someone opened the roads up and
it was a bit of a mutual decision between the riders to call it off. It was
too dangerous and we couldn't possibly have raced. It was like racing through
the city.

"Doubt it will happen tomorrow, as it finishes up a hill," remarked
Brown wryly.

How it unfolded

After a slowish start to the stage, Yongbiao Zhu (China) attacked the peloton
at around the 10 kilometre mark and was soon joined by Merculio Ramos (Pagcor-Casino
Filipino) less than a kilometre later. The Asian pairing worked well together,
building a lead of 40 seconds to three chasers, Lloyd Lucien Reynante (Pagcor-Casino
Filipino), Hamad Mohd Mahazir and Musa Musairi (Malaysia), and 1'20 to the peloton
by km 20.

At km 67, the duo's lead grew to a maximum lead of 5'18 before the chase by
the sprinters' teams began in earnest, and when they did so, the advantage to
the two groups out in front all but vanished; six kilometres later, Reynante,
Mohd Mahazir and Musairi were caught, and with 10 kilometres remaining, Zhu
and Ramos were swallowed up.

As the peloton roared into Taiping to complete the first of two finishing circuits
before a much-anticipated bunch gallop, a group of police officials believed
the race to be over, and pandemonium soon followed as more and more cars unknowingly
entered onto the "live" parcours.

Race Controller Alan Rushton not surprisingly appeared frustrated and embarrassed,
with riders sportingly suggesting the peloton complete another lap to appease
the mass of bemused onlookers. In the end, however, it was decided by the college
of commissaires and the race organisation that the opening stage of the race
be neutralised, and for all points and bonuses collected during the intermediate
sprints be withdrawn.

Despite taking the leader's jersey in usual circumstances, Pagcor-Casino Filipino
team manager Ric Rodriguez was delighted: "For us, we are a new trade team,
and this is clearly a bonus for us in the Philippines," he said. "Already we
are wearing the yellow and the best Asian rider jerseys, and, of course, this
is a welcome development for us. This is the first professional cycling team
in the Philippines, and I'm very excited for this to happen."

Asked about their chances over the next few stages, Rodriguez understood it
would be near impossible to keep the yellow jersey for much longer, instead
deciding to focus their efforts on the Asian rider classification.

"Before we came to Langkawi, our target was the Asian [rider] classification.
We put this trade team together so cycling comes back to the Philippines and
to try and get the gap between us [and the European teams] closer. When things
happen like this, it is obviously unexpected and unplanned, so tonight we're
going to talk about it and change our strategy a little, but our focus will
still be on the Asian category."

"Hey,
don't blame me!" It wasn't a good start for Race Controller Alan Rushton
as he attempts to explain the debacle to Formaggi Pinzolo Fiave sprinter Ivan
Quaranta.

Despite
Stage 1 being neutralised and points and bonuses withdrawn, Merculio Ramos
(Pagcor-Casino Filipino) earns the prilevege of wearing the first leader's
jersey of the TMLDTdL after winning two out of the three intermediate sprints.